Some stories never seem to grow old, but remain timeless pieces of history preserved in literature. Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird,” continues to be popular around the country even fifty-four years after its publication back in 1960. It’s a story familiar to most high school students in today’s age, and may be a familiar title to the memories of their parents as well. The famous novel won a Pulitzer Prize in its day, and continues to be relevant in today’s society, as the story surrounds the racial issues of the South during the 1930s.
Until now, Lee had decided never to release another novel. She has been quoted as saying she had two reasons for not writing ever again, “[O]ne, [she] wouldn’t go through the pressure and publicity [she] went through with “To Kill a Mockingbird” for any amount of money. Second, [she had] said what [she] wanted to say and [she would] not say it again.” The author had originally written a novel similar to “To Kill a Mockingbird”, but from the perspective of an adult Scout Finch. After reviewing the story, she was encouraged by editors fascinated by the adult Scout’s flashbacks to try a different perspective in telling her story. The narrator of the story then became the young six-year-old Scout everyone knows.
The sequel to “To Kill a Mockingbird” is entitled “Go Set a Watchman” and is now being released on July 14, 2015 after being ignored for decades. No revisions will be made, and the novel will be published as it was originally written, in order to keep the story as it was intended to be told.
The story of this new novel follows Scout Finch, twenty years after the events of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” now all grown up and planning to visit her father. She tries to come to terms with her father’s views on society and how they affect her, as well as come to an understanding about the world in which she grew up in 1930’s Alabama. “Go Set a Watchman” will feature many of the characters originally seen in “To Kill a Mockingbird”, and will have many of the same elements and themes.
“Go Set a Watchman” will surely be a novel that will be well worth the wait when it comes to bookstores this upcoming July, and expectations will be high for the woman who said she would never release another novel. Perhaps this will be the next novel on required reading lists in high schools around the country.
